Dr. Coreen (Corey) Cockerill will become Wilmington College’s first inaugurated female president during an investiture ceremony on Tuesday (April 22). The inauguration event will be livestreamed to the public at 2 p.m. via the home page of WC’s website at www.wilmington.edu.
The College’s Board of Trustees named Cockerill as WC’s 20th president in March 2024. Previously, she held the interim presidency for 11 months and served on the faculty as a professor of communication arts and agriculture.
Major accomplishments in her past year as president include “Gold Standard” reaccreditation of the College’s programs from the Higher Learning Commission, a balanced budget ending FY24, a 7.5% enrollment increase from fall 2023 to fall ’24, an enviable 93.4% enrollment persistence rate from the Fall ’24 Semester to Spring ‘25, the introduction of four new academic majors, five National Champions in cross country and track & field, the reinstatement of the Prison Education Program and development successes funding major initiatives.
Cockerill earned a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 2006 in environmental sociology and communication. Before her academic appointment at WC, she was the electronic communications manager at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. Her research focuses on public engagement in natural resource management and the role of information in facilitating participation.
She is the recipient of the College’s 2012-13 Student Government Association award for teaching excellence, the 2013 OHIO Magazine Excellence in Education award, the 2021 SOCHE Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2021 ACEL Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University.